Sven Nys says in Sporza (the Flemish public broadcaster) that racing ten days in a row is impossible. He is talking about the Christmas period, when the cyclocross calendar piles up the races. According to him, for ten years everything has been adapting to a few riders who do cyclocross for less and less time, and he names Van Aert and Van der Poel.
Ten days in a row. I got out last year’s diary. Between Christmas and New Year, I rode four times. A club ride, a solo ride, a ride cancelled because it was bucketing down, and a ride that counted the yule log. Take off the yule log, take off the downpour: we get to two and a half. I’m not saying I do ten days. I’m saying I know what the period is like.
He also says people often call him to ask whether his son Thibau can still race, and that Thibau already has seven in that period. Seven. At my place, people call to ask whether I am coming to Christmas Eve dinner. The answer depends on what time the ride leaves.
And that sentence, I translate it the way he said it: “If a race doesn’t fit your programme, pick another one.” That is exactly what I tell the club when the ride leaves at nine. I pick the one at twenty past nine.
Two races on the same day. I note. Two classifications will be needed.
He proposes spreading the races better, perhaps alternating from one season to the next between the start and the end. Dendermonde has already opened, and the road riders are not on holiday yet. Me, I put the cyclocross bike in the garage, in front of the other three. The car stays outside until February.
It’s true, we checked: Sporza.
